June 7, 2026

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ Cycle A

Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; John 6:51-58

For most of you here, I can say the name Joseph Stalin and you know who I'm talking about and something about him, but for the younger ones here who might not have studied this period yet, let me just relate that he was a man who ruled the country known as the Soviet Union, the predecessor to what we know as Russia today. He ruled as an absolute dictator and was greatly feared; justifiably feared, since he would imprison or kill anyone whom would not bow to his wishes. It is estimated that 20 million people died in the Soviet Union under his rule because of his actions, and the jails, known in Russian as gulags, were filled with dissidents. One, a man named Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, wrote a famous book about this period titled The Gulag Archipelago. That is the background you need to know to understand this story that Solzhenitsyn tells in his book: in 1937, Stalin was giving a speech. People started clapping, and they kept clapping for a long time because everyone was afraid to be the first one to stop for fear of offending Stalin. The story goes that a factory director was noted to be the one who stopped clapping first, and he was sent to the gulag for ten years [ https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9054814-whenever-stalin-made-a-speech-h... ]. Now, this story was probably not true, but what was true was the long periods of clapping in order to curry favor with Stalin. Stalin eventually had to use a bell to indicate that everyone was to stop clapping so his speeches did not drag on forever. This is not unique to Stalin: we have seen this with other dictators, such as in China, Cuba, and other places.

I think this has a lesson that we can appreciate on this day set aside by our Church to celebrate the Eucharist, the body and blood of our Lord. Clapping, as with anything we do, is neither good nor bad in itself; it's the intent we have when we do it. We can clap at the end of a speech or performance because we are afraid of what others might think of us if we don't. We can clap because it is the social convention and we just do it out of politeness. We can clap because it's our grandchild's school performance and we love them and want to demonstrate that love, regardless of the actual merits of the performance. Or we can clap because we truly enjoyed and appreciated what was said or performed and we want to share that gratitude. Applause means one thing on the surface, but in reality it can hide many actual and divergent motives.

So we come to the question of the day: what is your reason that you will file up to the front of this church in just a few minutes and receive communion? It turns out clapping for a performance and partaking in the Eucharist are very similar. We can do it because we are afraid of what will happen to us if we don't. Fear of hell has driven many people to do things that, given a freedom from fear, they would not do otherwise. Or we can take communion because it is the polite thing to do. We've done it our whole lives, it's a ritual that we go through, not really sure why it's so important, but everyone else seems to be doing it too. Or we can do it out of a love of God. God, that is to say Jesus, told us to do this “in remembrance of me,” so we troop off to church like we do the recital of a grandchild, not expecting a lifechanging experience but out of devotion, with a sincere desire to show our love. Or we can do it out of a true understanding of what we are doing and a strong desire to be united with our God.

So our Church presents and celebrates the Eucharist on this second Sunday after Pentecost and asks us: what does the fact that our Savior gives us his body sacramentally mean to us? And we should really give this some thought, because the whole concept of the Eucharist is so mystical and difficult to understand. The mystery has been problematic throughout the history of the Church. We have those that can't understand how Jesus could say, as we heard in the Gospel reading, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” [John 6:53b NABRE]. This is in direct response to those who questioned the real presence, who had said “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” [John 6:52b]. Jesus never clears up the mystery, but states clearly and distinctly that it is both true and necessary.

Now, I think that there are three possible ways of responding to this. First, you can say, “I believe.” This is the answer of the Catholic Church. The second response is to say that, because I don't understand why he said this or how it could be true, he can't have meant it, so it must mean something else or must be metaphorical. But unfortunately this suffers from the great problem that this line of logic means that you think God is not capable of doing anything that you don't understand. Well, if that were true, then we would worship a god that is not capable of all things, that there are things that he cannot do. I hope this is not the god that you worship. It's not the God of the Catholic Church, the omnipotent, omnipresent Lord that Moses speaks of in the first reading. And the third and final response I think is possible is the greatest heresy of them all: Jesus could not have meant that because I don't think that God would do that. Not that God can't do this, but that he wouldn't. This line of logic suffers from that age-old sin: making yourself into God, or at least placing yourself on the same level. I know what God would do because I have an equal understanding to his.

So here we have the three responses: Jesus can and does give us his body and blood, or Jesus can't, or Jesus won't. Today we ask ourselves: which one will we chose to believe when we come up to the altar today? Is there the real presence because Jesus tells us that it is and then makes it happen? Or is it something else, since he obviously didn't mean it as being real because he either can't do it or wouldn't do it? When you say Amen in just a few minutes, which of these will your Amen mean?

As we continue with our celebration of the Eucharist by partaking in it, let us really ponder in our hearts what this mystery means in our lives. Let us come forward to receive the graces of an all-powerful God that tells us that his body brings life to the world. As when we applaud any performance, no one can see our inner attitude, what we really feel inside, and why we are doing it. But an all-powerful God can, and does, and for this we are truly blessed.